TVSquad

(S03E11) "It's too good this year!" - The Hoff

In case you didn't hear, America's Got Talent was renewed for a fourth season. This was, of course, because of amazing ratings that made the show number 1 last week. However, if the judges keep letting poor acts go through to the Top 40, they'll lose viewers every week. The Hoff must be watching different performances than we are because the show is not that good this year. Actually, out of the 10 acts shown in episode 311, half got Xed by at least Piers. Okay, he may be trigger happy, but those acts deserved it.

Congratulations to the voters in the poll I included in my episode 310 review because you got last week's Top 5 right! Personally, I picked 4 of the 5 acts right. Since I'm with Piers in thinking that the ZOOperstars! members do not offer an entertaining act that can sustain a 2-hour-long show, I didn't see them go through. Seeing how Sharon felt bad for sending Elite packing last week, I'm wondering if she voted for the ZOOperstars! this week only to not be the one making the final decision. If so is the case, Sharon made a terrible decision because it was a given that David would pick the ZOOperstars! as winners over anybody. I can't believe that the BBDC was sent home... there are worst dancers still in the competition... oh well... what can I do? So joining the Top 20 are Queen Emily, Paul Salos, The Wright Kids, Daniel Jenns and (gulp!) The ZOOperstars!

The Texas State Strutters - Same old. Same old. It was a boring act with boring costumes and boring moves so no wonder they got Xed by the three judges. Their chances to move on are slim to none.

Michael Strelo-Smith - You can see the producers do not have much fate in this opera singer since he didn't perform last. Compared to the other male opera singers in the competition, Michael doesn't have much chance to make it to the finale. He got Xed by two of the judges because his performance wasn't professionnal enough. His voice wasn't that bad but the facial expressions were a bit frightening. I get that he wanted to carry the emotions of the lyrics but it was too much. I can't see him as a solo performer but with the voice and determination he has, I could see him on Broadway.

Bruce Block - And another magician bites the dust. What are the magicians thinking this season? They have fantastic potential yet they ruin their chances with either too basic acts or with acts that are so weird that they lose all their magic. Bruce's act was intruiging at first because of the "science experiment" set up and the idea of cutting a horse in half (Piers said it's over done but I never saw the sawing of a horse trick). Sadly, the reveal felt flat. It wasn't staged well enough. Usually, magicians pause before the reveal or the soundtrack changes. Not in Bruce's act. The reveal was lost amidst the number of people on stage and the lack of change in voice ton from Bruce. I would like to see what he has up his sleeves but since his act was not that good, I don't see him going through.

Shequida - I never thought Shequida was a good singer, let alone an opera singer. With this week's performance, Shequida proved me right. First, the song choice was oh so wrong for opera. Secondly, the voice was terrible. It was pitchy and you could hear he had troubles singing the notes at times. That last note was dreadful. Piers said it best, the performance sounded like kids were strangling a rabbit. If Shequida goes through to the next round, he has to follow The Hoff's performance and work with both his male and female voices.

The Taulb Family - During the commercial break after the Taulb Family performed, I went back to what I wrote about them during their auditions to compare with the notes I took during this week's performance. I could do a copy/paste of those comments: "The Taubls are good musicians but not the best singers [...] The group's weakest moments are when people sing alone." This week's performance was good enough but not great. However, it's enough for them to be vote to the Top 20.

Jonathan Burkin - Jonathan's act this week was once again really impressive. A few times here and there, he looked like he was wondering what to do next. However, I'm willing to forgive him for these hesitations since he performed with firery batons and didn't drop one. Because Jonathan's act is impression and because most of the other acts were poor this week, Jonathan will more than likely be vote through. However, I don't agree with The Hoff when he says that Jonathan's act could sustain a 2-hour-long show on the Las Vegas strip. Can he really do 2 hours of original and unrepetitive material?

Sarah Lenore - Very good song choice this week. Yes, she may have shouted a few times but Sarah showed that she has a strong voice and the confidence required from a singer. She owned the stage and connected with the crowd through her energy. She definitely needs to move on to the Top 20.

SickStep - I'm not totally agreeing with the judges on this one. The performance was good enough to move on to the next round but there was too many things for me to watch at once. Some dancers were doing basketball moves, while others were doing stuff on the bench, etc. Also, when they were all performing the same moves, it looked like they weren't always in sync. Nonetheless, they offered one of the best act of the night.

Matthew Piazzi - I was really impressed at the beginning of Matthew's act this week. He was dead on for all his impressions and it was interesting to see the "actors" talk about AGT. He lost me exactly where he lost Piers' vote: the piano playing and singing. Matthew did show that he can do more than impressions but what I wanted were impressions. When he started to play piano and sing, it was mostly with his own voice. He did do some impressions while singing but they were too fast and lost amidst the song. Even if he gave a performance that didn't meet my expectations, I would like to see him go through as he has the potential to win the competition.

Joseph Hall - What a poor performance from Joseph this week. He was just not Elvis this time around. The facial expressions were just wrong and the voice was NOT Elvis, it was Joseph's. Plus, he snapped his fingers for about 98% of the song, it was getting on my nerves. Joseph must be spot on every week if he wants to move on because there are a lot of Elvis impersonators out there. Based on this week's performance, I wouldn't vote him through.

My Top 5 of the week is: The Taulb Family, Jonathan Burkin, Sarah Lenore, SickStep, Matthew Piazzi. I doubt many of them will move on to the Top 10, let alone the finale, but out of the bad crop of performances we were offered in episode 311, they were the best acts.